Pocket lighter



Sept. 18, 1951 N. D. slNTETos 2,568,091

POCKET LIGHTER Filed April 29, 195o Maffei/13 2?. Jill/757mg /VEA/ T'oz rroeA/Ev atentecl Sept. 418, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE POCKET LIGHTER Nicholas D. Sintetos, San Bernardino, Calif. Application April 29, 1950, Serial No. 159,058

4 Claims. (Cl. 67-7.v1)

This invention relates to a pocket lighter.

More speciiically speaking the invention pertains to a lighting device that can be conveniently carried in the pocket, and which can be used to light a fire in various situations, but which is more particularly intended for smokers use in lighting cigars and cigarettes.

Although the art to which the present invention pertains is already well developed, yet there remains room for improvement therein in certain important particulars. One defect in lighters as heretofore constructed has resided in the fact that some oi them have operating parts projecting from an otherwise small and compact casing, which parts add unnecessarily to cost of manu-- facture and also render the lighter more bulky than it needs to be. Also there remains room for improvement of the means for manually actuating the member which acts upon the flint to produce the sparks used for ignition.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a pocket lighter wherein the casing is contoured in such a manner as to make it unnecessary to provide it with any objection able projecting parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pocket lighter so shaped that it is more conveniently manually grippable by the operator for the purpose of actuating the lighting element, and which, when gripped, enables the operator to actuate the lighter in a more positive and efficient manner.

Other objects pertain to a more durable and positive arrangement of manually operable means for producing the light and for constructing the device in such a manner that it may be manufactured at a very low cost, considering the long continued satisfactory use of which it is capable.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. l is a side elevation, with parts in section, of the device showing the parts thereof in their normal position.

Fig. 2 is a View wherein all except certain upper portions of the device are shown in vertical midsection. In this view the device is shown in its operative position, the wick having been ignited thus providing a ame for use in cigarette or other ignition.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section on line 4 4 of Fig. 5 is an exploded assembly of the series of parts which are carried by the shaft whereon the spark producing wheel is mounted, said parts cooperating with each other in the operation of said wheel.

Fig. 6 is an elevation looking at the structure shown in Fig. 1 from the plane indicated from the line 6 6 on the latter View, the scale being somewhat reduced.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevation looking at Fig. 1 from the plane indicated by line 'I-'l on that view.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the movable parts of the device are shown contained in a casing I@ which may be contoured similarly to, and need not be largerthan, a mans watch case. Said casing, however, although continuously circular through more than a semi-circumference, is recessed or depressed at one side in such a manner as to provide a slightly concave Wall portion II and, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, above said wall portion a manually depressible part or trigger I2.

At one end said trigger I2 is pivotally attached by a pin I3 and at its opposite, free end said trigger is somewhat thickened and provided internally with a square recess I4 into which is tightly fitted a boss I5 integral with one end of a cylindrical plunger I6, the opposite end of said plunger being diametrically enlarged at Ia and having a working t within an arcuate guide sleeve Il which is built into the casing as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The lower end of said guide sleeve I1 ts firmly Within a circular opening provided for it in the inner part of a casing wall section I8 which is more deeply recessed or depressed than the aforesaid wall portion II, this additional depression being required to provide a working clearance for the swing of said trigger I2. Said guide sleeve I I is somewhat arcuate and its upper end is abutted against and slidably secured in relation to a cross wall 20 in the upper part of the casing as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2.

The inner end of said plunger I6 is provided with a threaded socket into which is screwed the diametrically reduced end portion of an arcuate operating rod 22 around which is loosely coiled a compression spring 23 the upper end of said spring abutting said cross wall and the lower end thereof abutting the aforesaid diametrically enlarged part Ilia of the plunger I6, so that said spring serves to restore said plunger and rod V22 to normal position after each manual depression ofthe trigger I2.

A slightly arcuate,'tubular lspring containing casing 25 extends nearly diametrically across the main casing, being as viewed in Fig. 2, seated at its lower end in a tubular boss 26, this end of said tubular casing being closed by a screw plug 21 which is put into place after a coiled compression spring 28 has been inserted into the tube 25. The upper end of this spring continuously pressesI against a follower plug 29 fitting loosely within the tube 25, said plug in turn pressing continuously against a cylindrical piece of flint 30 the upper end portion of which continuously projects from said tube 25. In this manner said flint is kept continuously in contact with a flint friction wheel 3l. The upper end of said tube 25 fits within an opening provided for it in the cross wall 20.

Said friction wheel 3l, together with theother members of the assembly shown in Fig. 5, is carried by a mounting shaft 32 which extends from side to side of the upper part of the casing l as viewed in the drawings, the end portions of said shaft being secured in circular openings provided for it in the walls of the casing.

An elongated gear wheel 35 is splined to said shaft 32 near one side of the casing, this gear wheel being positioned in contact with a series of rack forming gear teeth 3B formed on the convex side of that portion of the aforesaid arcuate operating rod 22 that projects beyond the cross wall 26. One end portion of said gear wheel 35 fits in an intermeshed fashion within a toothed aperture 31 which extends through a flange 38 carried by the shank 39 of an arcuate cap 4D so that oscillating the gear swings said cap from closed to open position and vice versa.

The aforesaid flint wheel 3l has a ratchet toothed end portion 43 with which cooperates a resilient ratchet plate 44 having a dog-forming fiange 45 which at times turns said flint wheel, as will later be more fully explained. Said plate 44 abuts against the adjacent side of the cap flange 38 and is provided with a straight side underlies the cap shank 39, so that the oscillation of the cap as aforesaid also oscillates said plate. The assembly of parts shown in Fig. is completed by suitable spacing washers 41 and Q8 and does not need further description as its various parts may be secured in place upon the shaft 32 in any desired conventional manner.

A tubular boss 50 projects upwardly from the aforesaid casing cross wall 2o and a wick cord 5l has an end portion which is frictionally held within and projects outwardly beyond said boss so as to be in a position to supply oil for ignition by sparks directed against it from the flint wheel 3|, thus producing the flame 52 shown in Fig. 2. Said wick is shown positioned to receive oil from an oil saturated fabric filling 53 contained within the casing l0. A filling opening is provided in one side of the casing normally closed by the screw cap 54 shown in Fig. 1.

Returning to the swingably mounted arcuate cap, said cap has built into it, and projecting from its concave side, a cup shaped snuffer 55 which, at each in-swing of the cap envelops and snuffs out tlie flame 52. Said arcuate cap has its already mentioned flange portion 38 located in a recess or alcove 5B formed in part by depressing a portion of the cross wall 20 as shown in the left hand portion of Fig. 2. Also the adjacent part of the casing wall is provided with a slot 51 which forms a clearance to accommodate the swinging movement of the arcuate shank 39 from which said flange extends. When the cap 40 is in its inswung position the outer side of 4B which. i

4 said arcuate shank cooperates with the re' mainder of the cap to form a streamline continuation of the adjacent part of the casing, and also the cap, being arcuate transversely as well as longitudinally, rounds out the casing over a part thereof which is recessed as shown at 58 so as to form an auxiliary windbreak 59 which protects the fiame 52 of the ignited wick at the side of the recess 58 opposite to the main windbreak afforded by the outswing of cap 40.

The cycle of operation is as follows. Assuming the parts to be in the normal position shown in Fig. 1, the operator will take hold of the casing IU in a pistol grip fashion with his middle finger overlying the casing segment Il and with his foreiinger overlying the free end portion of the trigger I2 which is inswingable because it overlies a segmentally removed portion of the periphery of the casing. He will inswing the trigger thus sliding upward the arcuate rod 22 causing the toothed rack 36 of said rod to rotate the gear 35 which, in turn, swings outwardly to open position the snuffer-carrying cap do. Owing to the abutting relation of the ratchet plate 44 to said cap and the interrelated flint wheel 52, the latter will be caused to strike off sparks from the flint 30 onto the wick thus producing the ame 52. When the operator releases the pressure of his forefinger against the trigger the spring 23 will return the arcuate rod 22 to normal position, together with the aforementioned parts operatively connected therewith, which restoration of parts includes inswinging of cap d causing the snuifer carried thereby to extinguish the name 52.

I claim:

l. In a lighter of the kind described, a casing having a periphery that is continuously circular through more than a semi-circumference, said casing having a spacious depression in one side portion of its periphery, the bottom of said depression being made up of two casing wall portions, one of said two wall portions extending into the casing a less distance than the other and being positioned to form a part of a hand hold for the operator, a trigger overlying the other of said two wall portions, a pivot connecting one end of said trigger to the peripheral portion of the casing in a position for said trigger to have its opposite end portion inswung by the forefinger of an operator whose middle nger is overlying that one of said two wall sections which extends inwardly the lesser distance, igniting means carried by said casing and operatively connected with said trigger so as to be actuated by the manual inswinging thereof as aforesaid, and a spring carriedlby said casing and positioned to restore said trigger to normal outswung position after each aforesaid manually inswinging thereof.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 and that depressed portion of the casing wall which is subjacent tol said trigger progressively deepening toward the free end of the trigger so as to accommodate the inswinging of the trigger, when the trigger is in its outswung position its free end being substantially flush with the aforesaid less deeply depressed part of the casing wall.

3. The structure recited in claim 1 and a wick mounted in said casing and ignited by the actuating of said igniting means, a cap pivotally mounted on said casing and movable from and to a wick exposing position, and mechanism associated with said igniting means and operatively connected to said cap to move said cap to a wick exposing position by inswinging said trigger.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 and a wick mounted in said casing and ignited by the actuating of said igniting means, a cap pivotally mounted on said casing and movable from and to a wick exposing position, mechanism associated with said igniting means and operatively connected to said cap to move said cap to a wick exposing position by inswin'ging said trigger, and a snufer carried by said cap and positioned to snuff out the flame of the wick, said mechanism and igniting means in cooperation with said spring automatically restoring said cap to normal position upon manual release of said trigger.

NICHOLAS D. SINTETOS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,743,349 Holtzman Jan. 14, 1930 2,051,934 Aronson Aug. 25, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 140,155 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1920 163,336 Switzerland Oct. 2, 1932 860,671 France Oct. 7, 1940 

